A trip to East Anglia recently found us in the stunning Winter Garden at Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire. The day was crisp, clear and cold – the sort of cold that hurts your nostrils as you breathe in and one where you would not want to be without a pair of gloves or your camera! It was perfect weather to appreciate the bare skeletons of coloured Dog Woods, their vibrant colours dulled somewhat by a dusting of frost, but still shining especially when the weak, winter sun hit them and turned the frost to water.Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’ is just that – a twiggy bonfire of branches which are bright orange with red tips through the winter. In spring and summer, the plants make pleasing mounds of pale, yellowish green leaves before colouring to orange and yellow in autumn. Cornus alba ‘Aurea’ is more upright if kept ‘stooled’ (pruned to a basic framework close to the ground) every other spring. Deep red branches provide the interest through winter and the leaves emerge bright yellow in spring, aging to rich gold. Flower clusters are freely borne and in autumn, the leaves turn plum, red and pink – a complete surprise compared to the summer livery of this plant!Scent was provided by the Christmas Box (Sarcococca) whose leathery evergreen leaves made thick mounds at the front of borders near the main paths’ dusted with frost. The sweet scent from the tiny, strand like blooms was appreciated by visitors, along with the scent of well established drifts of Viburnum x bodnantense that were smothered in pink flower clusters set off by the gnarled brown bark that showed the plants age. Standing behind the Christmas Box were masses of the olive green upright stems of Cornus sericea ‘Flaviramea’ – an old variety but still one of the best for this unusual colouring. Miscanthus grasses stood proudly in borders, although their flower heads were bowed down by the weight of frost in sunless corners and Whitewash Brambles, with a few late leaves hanging on the prickly stems, made impenetrable frameworks of creamy stems. Sheraton Cherries added a stately air with their shiny mahogany bark and elegant shapes while Twisted Hazels made a confused mass of curly branches and the beautiful evergreen shrub Garrya elliptica was putting on its winter show of pendulous catkins, defying the low temperatures.Witch Hazels, not yet in flower, bristled with buds ready to burst open and show off their spidery blooms in citrus colours like strands of marmalade, also packing a punch with their zingy perfume. Thickets of Mahonia were already in flower, their exotic looking leaves crowned with tumbling racemes of golden yellow flowers undeterred by the heavy frost and with plenty more green buds waiting to unleash their powerful ‘Lily of the Valley’ scent. With so much to look at it’s difficult to pick a favorite piece of planting from this garden but perhaps the most dramatic has to be the glade of white stemmed Himalayan Birch planted en masse with brown bark mulch added to the soil beneath, enhancing even more the whiteness of the trees’ bark. The area was peaceful and uplifting – just as a garden should be.
A trip to East Anglia recently found us in the stunning Winter Garden at Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire.